


it lights the whole sky

by Bright_Elen



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, Holding Hands, M/M, Minor Violence, there was only one hula hoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29636193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bright_Elen/pseuds/Bright_Elen
Summary: Bodhi meets one of his guardian angels. It doesn't go as anyone expected.
Relationships: K-2SO/Bodhi Rook
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9
Collections: Proximity Flash





	it lights the whole sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nununununu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nununununu/gifts).
  * Inspired by [1 Rogue Street](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26638006) by [robotboy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotboy/pseuds/robotboy). 



> I wrote this for fun in 5 days, so don't take the mishmashed "theology"/worldbulding too seriously. That being said, there's a lot I don't know about Islam and the Muslim experience, so if I wrote something offensive or problematic I would deeply appreciate being told.

Bodhi had only just rounded the corner on his way home from the Tube station, thinking fondly of the Thai leftovers in his fridge, when he was stopped in his tracks by a sudden and intense light. 

He squinted out from behind the shield of his arm, trying to see what was going on. Was someone pointing a bloody searchlight right at him? 

He couldn't tell. That really just left two choices: blindly forge ahead, or backtrack for another route. The next street over— 

"BE NOT AFRAID, BODHI ROOK." 

Bodhi took half a step back. The voice wasn't loud, exactly, but it also somehow transmitted the words through Bodhi's teeth. "What the fuck," he muttered, and then, louder: "Hello? Do I know you?"

"ACTUALLY," the voice said, "A LITTLE FEAR MIGHT BE HEALTHY. I REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT WE HAVE SOMETHING OF A SITUATION."

Bodhi could be afraid of going outside, of leaving the kettle on, of pestering waitstaff, that his friends secretly hated him. He could be afraid like a champ. But for some reason, the voice was having the opposite effect. "Look, I don't know who you are, or what situation you're talking about. Can you turn that light down? I can't see."

There was a shimmer, or maybe a flicker. "OH, YES, YOUR EYES ARE VERY LIMITED. ONE MOMENT." There was a pause during which Bodhi considered turning around anyway, and then light dimmed until the street was visible again. As his eyes readjusted, the person standing in front of Bodhi turned out to be a tall Black man in a leather jacket. He held himself stiffly, like he didn't quite know what to do with his slender limbs, and his face was a blank neutral. 

There was a notable absence of a searchlight. Bodhi's first impulse was to make up a reason for the light, but then he thought back to all the other inexplicable occurrences that had happened to him over the years.

Maybe he _hadn't_ been imagining things all this time. Maybe the guy's eyes really were glowing a little.

"You're not…" but then fear did assert itself: if he was wrong, he'd be accusing the man of not being human. He changed tack. "Who are you?"

"Call me Kay," the man said, with a residual tingle in Bodhi's molars. With no change to his non-expression, Kay added, "I'm one of your guardian angels." 

All the hair on Bodhi's arms and legs stood on end and lightning flashed through his nerves. His blood and bones sang with the truth of it. 

"Oh." Angels. Okay. He took a breath, and Kay continued looking at him. Was he supposed to say something? How were you supposed to talk to an angel? 

Regardless, he still had to get home. He started walking again, and Kay kept pace.

Right outside his building, Bodhi finally found words. "Does that mean we're right?" he blurted. "Muslims, I mean. Four guardians per person?" He winced at his own question.

Kay nodded once. "About that, at least."

Bodhi nodded in return, worried he'd have to come up with something else to say. 

Fortunately, Kay continued, "Our problem is that I'm the only one of yours left." 

Dread washed cold up Bodhi's spine. "That...can't be good." 

The first expression to cross Kay's face was a worried frown. "It's not." 

* * *

When the first demon attacked just minutes after arriving at his flat, Bodhi was scared shitless. 

The demon was a vaguely humanoid wound in the universe, something that hurt to look at, that Bodhi's brain interpreted as distorted, burning shadows. Just as he'd known Kay for what he was, the demon's sheer _wrongness_ felt like a buzzing, scraping energy trying to invade his body. 

It lunged at Bodhi. Bodhi scrambled backwards, sure something terrible was about to happen to him. The next thing he knew, Kay was between him and the demon. He grappled with it, holy light streaming out of him, the idea of wings filling the space around him and brushing Bodhi's skin. Kay lifted the creature, threw it to the ground with a thunderclap, and then there was sort of a puddle of... _something_ seeping into the rug.

"That is why you can't go anywhere without me," Kay said. 

"Yeah," Bodhi squeaked, the shakes already overtaking him. "Fuck. _Fuck."_

Kay passed a hand over Bodhi's head, a gentle warmth following the gesture, and then pronounced, "No brain damage, aside from the emotional overload. You're doing well." 

"Is...I... _brain damage?!"_ Bodhi stared up incredulously. "You're telling me that thing could have given me brain damage just from being near it?"

"Demons are inimical to life."

"Sure. Okay. Why not." Bodhi laughed, a little hysterically. "Why bloody not." 

Kay looked at him. "Do you need…" he gestured vaguely in the direction of the bathroom, then the kitchen. 

"Tea would be nice," Bodhi said, "But what I really want is for there to be something I can do about the demons. Salt circles or holy symbols or whatever." 

"Yes, there are a few measures you can take." Kay walked into the kitchen, and soon Bodhi heard water filling the kettle. "I will teach you." 

Some small measure of control returning to his limbs, Bodhi pulled himself to his feet. 

"Okay, yeah," he said to himself. "Getting demon self-defense lessons from my guardian angel. Just another Tuesday." 

Bodhi sat at the kitchen table, and Kay stood next to the kettle. He explained some basic principles: that demons, like angels, existed on another plane from humans, but could cross over with effort. That humans could sometimes kick them out of the material plane, with the right tools. 

Bodhi wanted to know what those were, but there were more pressing concerns at the moment. "Um. Did you turn the kettle on?"

Kay blinked, then looked down at the kettle. The indicator light was dark. "No?"

Bodhi reached out and pushed the button, ducking his head to hide a smile. 

* * *

Apparently, dimension-hopping could be foiled by salt. Bodhi was a little offended that it was that easy.

"It might be easy to make a salt circle," Kay warned, "but they are just as easy to unmake, and salt costs money."

Bodhi thought about it for a while. The next day, he dragged Kay to a nearby toy shop.

"Toy shopping is worthwhile why?"

"This might not work," Bodhi admitted, slotting his card into the chip reader. "But I thought it was worth a try."

" _What's_ worth a try?" Kay was annoyed at not knowing. Interesting.

Bodhi shrugged the shoulder under his new hula hoop. "Why not fill this with salt? Portable, harder to break, and saves money." 

Kay blinked. "That...might work."

"We can call it the Salty-o." 

The look on Kay's face was somewhere between horror and disappointment. "I've heard stupider things in millenia of existence," he said dryly, "but not many." 

Bodhi just grinned.

* * *

It started with a trip to the closest mosque, and after that, libraries. Bodhi and Kay looked at theological texts, holy scriptures for all the religions that included angels, mythologies, even records of stained glass art and hymns. There were more demon attacks. A rabbi suggested they might have better luck in university libraries, and the university librarian thought they'd have better luck in Florence. Bodhi found a subletter for his flat and didn't ask where Kay was getting the money he used to pay for meals, train tickets, and lodging. 

Florence was beautiful. When Bodhi found out Kay had never been, he mandated a walking tour in between research visits. 

"Have you gotten to see other places," Bodhi mused, "or only wherever your humans have been?"

Admiring the view of the city from the hills, Kay said, "During our shifts, we follow our charge everywhere. Sometimes we're sent on other tasks when it's not our shift." 

Bodhi swung his phone in a slow arc to take a panoramic photo. It included Kay staring pensively into the distance. "What did you do when you didn't have tasks?"

"I'd return to the Divine presence for at least a little time each day," Kay said. "Other guardians like to spend more time there." He shrugged. "I wound up reading, after humans developed writing. Before that, I'd watch someone teaching a skill, or telling a story." 

"Before _writing._ " Bodhi shook his head. "My whole life must seem like an eyeblink to you." 

Kay turned and regarded him with focused calm. "You are eternal, Bodhi. A lack of experience doesn't change that you carry a spark of the Divine." 

Bodhi's heart thudded in his chest. "If you say so." He turned back to the landscape, still extremely aware of Kay's gaze. "Still can't really wrap my head around it." 

"Of course not. You can't be expected to conceptualize eternity using only a temporal frame of reference."

Bodhi huffed a laugh. "That was almost tactful, coming from you." 

Kay smiled, and Bodhi's chest felt lighter than it had in years.

* * *

Two months after the other angels disappeared, they'd wandered all the way to Tunis and still had nothing much to show for all their searching. To make matters worse, the demons kept attacking. There'd been one every week and a half or so, on average, though they weren't at all evenly distributed. 

"Spiders week," Bodhi said to himself.

Kay tilted his head in inquiry. 

"The week that had four demon attacks. Way more than the rest of the time, and there's a, a meme..." He floundered. Explaining memes to his parents usually involved blank stares, and they weren't beings from another plane of existence.

But Kay, to Bodhi's surprise, nodded. "Spiders week is an outlier and should not have been counted." 

Bodhi laughed in delight. "Don't tell me an angel keeps up with memes." 

Kay shrugged, a rare smile curling his lips. "Not most of them. But I do enjoy statistics." 

Sometimes the demons were just as terrifying as the first, even inside the protection of the Salty-o, and sometimes they were easier to deal with. There were different types of demons, the names and characteristics of each Kay was trying to teach Bodhi. It wasn't going terribly well, not least because the one time Bodhi had tried to examine a demon with attention to detail, it had made him vomit.

Bodhi appreciated the lessons nonetheless, though not as much as he appreciated Kay's holy smiting. Not getting his face and soul eaten was something of a priority for him.

It was maybe a little problematic that he was starting to appreciate Kay's smiting in some distinctly human ways. He was pretty sure you weren't supposed to lust after your guardian angel, but Kay was beautiful in his righteous might and Bodhi wasn't made of stone.

That was fine for a while. Bodhi kept his inappropriate thoughts to himself, and if he stared a little, Kay didn't seem to notice.

But then, during another attack, there was a moment when Kay paused, demon writhing in his grip, and looked back at Bodhi before lifting the creature off the ground entirely, a move that definitely looked bad-ass but wasn't strictly necessary.

"Oh my god," Bodhi said, even while dodging a flailing limb made of smoke. "Are you _showing off_?"

With a horrible tearing sound, an extra-bright flare of light, and a smell like burned sugar competing with rotting meat, Kay wrenched the demon into two different directions. 

When the screaming had stopped and Kay contained once again in a human form, he looked Bodhi over. 

"Pride," he said, avoiding Bodhi's eyes, "is for God, humans, and demons." 

Bodhi tried not to stare at Kay after that.

* * *

By the time they arrived at Istanbul, they'd gotten used to demon attacks. When Kay thought an attack was likely, he walked with fists and eyes trailing sunlight, and Bodhi kept Salty-o (now reinforced with duct tape) at the ready. 

This time, their vigilance wasn't enough. The demon was bigger than the others had been, and faster. Bodhi watched in increasing nausea and dismay, hand clamped over his mouth, as the thing swallowed Kay's light into its nothingness.

When Kay was completely enveloped, Bodhi's heart stopped. The demon wasn't moving. There was nothing Bodhi could do to help. 

He couldn't escape, either. The roiling void approached, movement reminding him of a predator sniffing the air. Closer. Bodhi didn't know if the circle would be enough, against a demon this strong. 

It was less than a meter away when pinpricks of light began to appear in the void. An unholy scream built from the creature as the light intensified and eventually burst forth completely, raining smoke, ichor, and ashes everywhere except the bubble of space inside Bodhi's circle. 

When the light faded, there was nothing on the cobblestones except the form of a lanky, prone man. 

"Kay!" Bodhi scrambled to his side, turning Kay over so he could see his face. He was unconscious, body and face slack, but there was no blood and no visible wounds. 

Did angels have circulatory systems? Bodhi didn't know. Kay's body felt human enough, and Bodhi found his pulse under his jaw. It took five of his own heartbeats before he felt one of Kay's, but there was another after that, and another, and Bodhi slumped in relief. 

"Okay," Bodhi whispered to himself. "Okay, okay, check for breaks." You were supposed to do that, right? He started patting Kay down, head first, then limbs, ribs, neck. Nothing broken. 

Now what?

In desperation, Bodhi cupped Kay's face. "Kay. Wake up, please wake up. I can't carry you." _Please,_ he thought, fervent as a prayer. _Please be okay._

After another eternity, Kay stirred in his arms. "Bodhi." It took him a moment to focus properly. "You are unhurt?"

Bodhi shook with the force of his relief. "Yeah," he said, swallowing back tears. "Yeah, I'm fine. Do you think you can sit up?"

Kay got a familiar calculating look. "Most likely."

He needed Bodhi's help to balance, but managed it.

"Are you alright?" Bodhi's voice was all over the place. "What did it do to you?"

"I had to convert considerably more of my essence into energy than I normally do. I am...depleted." 

Bodhi frowned. "Will you recover?"

"If I don't fight another demon for at least ten days, yes." 

Bodhi bit his lip. "Here's hoping the others are scared of you for killing the big one." _And don't realize it softened you up._

Kay nodded. "I believe I can stand now." 

Bodhi stood first and helped him to his feet, then stayed close by to steady him. "You're wobbly. Lean on me." 

Kay looked down at Bodhi, then at their joined hands, and Bodhi's free hand on Kay's arm. Bodhi had to look away, but that only made the feeling of Kay's skin against his more vivid. It was possible he'd meant for that to happen.

It took them a moment to figure out the best way to do it, since Kay was so fucking tall, but Kay with a hand on Bodhi's shoulder, and Bodhi with his arm around Kay's waist, worked well enough to get them to their guest house.

Bodhi parked Kay on the armchair in their room, the one he'd been occupying while Bodhi slept. He dug out his kettle, filled it in the tiny bathroom, and started boiling water. Kay didn't eat unless he was curious about a particular food, but he'd grown fond of tea.

Kay frowned at the first sip. "You put sugar in." 

Bodhi shrugged. "A little blood sugar goes a long way. Not sure how human your body is, but it can't hurt."

"It can hurt my taste buds."

"Quit whingeing. Your next cup can be as bitter as you like." 

Kay didn't stop complaining, but after he finished the first cup, he stopped slumping quite so alarmingly, so Bodhi counted it as a win.

* * *

"We're not supposed to reveal ourselves." They were in the market, Bodhi getting groceries while Kay sifted through any religious books he could find. Bodhi was more than a little jealous that he could read and speak every human language. "Not without orders to do so." 

Bodhi stopped his examination of some eggplants. "Is that...are you in trouble?"

Kay frowned. "I don't know. I haven't had direct contact with the Divine since before the separation," Kay admitted. "I can't communicate with any other human's guardians. The only reason I know I'm not completely lost is that I haven't become a demon." 

"Fuck." Bodhi studied Kay's face. He couldn't tell why he was bringing this up now, when they'd been on the run together for months. He kept his voice soft, undemanding. "Why did you do it?" 

"You needed to know what had happened, and you're the only one who could help." 

Bodhi found that a bit hard to believe. "You literally occupy multiple dimensions at once and decided an anxious courier was your guy?"

"You've been very resourceful and determined," Kay asserted. "You knowing how to defend yourself, and knowing you have to, has made a huge difference." 

It was a bit annoying how easily Kay's approval went to Bodhi's head. "Yeah?"

"There were six attacks that would have resulted in your death and or spiritual mauling if you haven't known what was happening," Kay continued. 

Bodhi grimaced and went back to the eggplant. "I did not want to know that." 

"I understand." 

* * *

Kay's head suddenly snapped up, and Bodhi swore.

"Where's it coming from?" He had his backpack on and Salty-o ready to throw on the guest house floor. Only the poor tea kettle would remain outside the protection. 

Kay pointed towards the door. He stood up, as if he was going to fight the thing like he usually did.

"No you don't," Bodhi said, grabbed Kay's elbow, and tried to steer him into standing in the circle.

"You need to be in the circle, not me," Kay protested.

Bodhi strengthened his grip. "Argue with me once we're both in the circle. I'm not letting go." He didn't actually know if Kay was so weak that his own human strength could manhandle him, but he was pretty sure Kay didn't know, either.

The doorknob rattled. Kay stepped into the circle.

Hula hoops weren't very large. The Salty-o was big enough that Bodhi could sit with folded legs, but not much bigger. It definitely couldn't accommodate two sitting people, and standing was a little dicey too. 

The backpack didn't help, and Bodhi thought maybe he should put it on the floor like he was on the Tube, but then the demon broke through the door and Kay dragged him close. His hands were on Bodhi's shoulder and the back of his head, and Bodhi's face was pressed to Kay's chest. Bodhi's arms came up automatically, one around Kay's waist and the other gripping his wrist. 

He would have to leave the circle eventually, and he was terrified of how vulnerable Kay was, but it was also the safest he'd felt in months.

The not-person — a pale man in a white suit and long coat, white gloves, and ivory shoes — cocked its head to look them over. It was even worse than normal demons: at least those had the decency to look like what they were. 

A rictus of a smile split the thing's face. "My, you really have gone native."

"BEGONE." Kay's angelic voice resonated through Bodhi's entire body. "THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU HERE." 

"Hmm, I don't know about that," the demon said, eyes sliding onto Bodhi, then back to Kay. "There's a reason they're supposed to have four. You're alone, and you're hardly at your best." It stepped closer, and the face started to sort of melt, the teeth growing larger and larger.

"Oh, fuck off!" Bodhi was done. He looked up at Kay. "Isn't there _anything_ we can do?" 

Kay's fingers tightened on Bodhi's shoulder. "There is one thing. But it's dangerous." 

Bodhi jerked his head at the demon, who was jeering at them from barely two feet away, slavering jaws open wide. "Kind of already in danger."

Kay's worried frown deepened. "Yes." He took a deep breath, then leaned down, closer than he'd ever gotten, to whisper in Bodhi's ear. "It's possible that I could temporarily convert your soul into a conduit for Divine energy." 

Even as part of him was extremely aware of how little space separated his mouth from Kay's, Bodhi thought rapidly. "You can turn it back off?"

Kay nodded. "There's a danger it will be too much for you." He swallowed, and his whisper came out ragged. "It could kill you." 

Made sense. But that wasn't the most worrying part. "What about my soul?"

"Divine energy won't harm a human soul." Kay sounded miserable. "It's alright, Bodhi. Let go of me, and I'll leave the circle. I believe I have a moderate chance of survival." 

Bodhi's hands tightened on Kay's back. "Fuck that. What do you need me to do?"

Kay huffed in defeat. "Take my hands and relax." He started to straighten up.

That was Bodhi's chance. He pulled on Kay's shoulders to keep him there, then leaned up and pressed his lips to Kay's. They tasted like music. 

Kay froze, then, after a moment, cupped Bodhi's face and leaned into the kiss. Bodhi hummed, and Kay inhaled sharply. The demon had fallen silent.

 _Ha,_ Bodhi thought, and with regret, pulled back. Kay was staring at him with wide eyes. 

Bodhi smiled crookedly. "You can't blame me. I might die."

Kay made an incredulous vowel sound. "If you die I will berate you at great length." 

Bodhi smiled, but he put his hands over Kay's, and pulled them down. "Time to do your thing." 

As soon as their hands were laced together, Bodhi closed his eyes. He promised himself he'd stare at Kay as much as he liked if he lived through this. Possibly even if he died; he wasn't sure on the metaphysics.

Kay squeezed his hands. Then he did something that felt like the sun was beginning to shine inside Bodhi's chest, warm, brilliant, powerful.

Divine.

But not exclusively that. The channel running through Bodhi's soul was being held open. It seemed like there were dozens of hands, but he knew they were all Kay's, because he was holding Bodhi so carefully, and they felt familiar. He wondered if his soul was as recognizable. In another state, he might have worried about all his flaws and failings, everything wrong with him that angels were above; but the Divinity flowing through him and the hands holding him didn't permit it. Then he forgot that, too, and there was only the light.

Some time later the hands began gradually closing the conduit, tapering the power until there was only a trickle left, and then closing it completely. Bodhi regained awareness of his surroundings when he fell into Kay's arms. 

He was vaguely aware of Kay maneuvering him onto the bed. Then there was a hand smoothing hair back from his face, and Bodhi leaned into it.

"Bodhi," Kay said, and he held his name carefully, too. "How do you feel?"

"Not dead," he said. Tried to take stock. "Um. Tired. Mind's a bit scattered. Not one hundred percent on where my body starts and stops. Is that good or bad?"

His face came into focus: serious, concerned, attention entirely on Bodhi. "You're doing much better than I'd feared, at least."

Bodhi found Kay's hand and squeezed. "You kept me safe."

Kay grimaced. "If I were able to do my job anything like properly, you wouldn't have had to do that in the first place."

"I'm glad you can't do it properly," Bodhi said, "because otherwise I'd never have met you." Maybe he was a little loopy. He wasn't usually this sappy.

"Not meeting is how it's supposed to be." Kay shook his head. "We shouldn't even be talking, let alone…" He looked away.

Was Kay trying to let him down gently? But he'd returned the kiss. He'd started laughing at Bodhi's jokes. 

He was still holding Bodhi's hand. 

"We've not been smited yet," Bodhi pointed out. "I don't think we're going to be. What do you _want_ , Kay?"

Kay looked at him, an intense regard that softened to amusement when Bodhi's head started to droop. "I want you to get some sleep," he said, and nudged Bodhi until he was lying flat. 

Bodhi was more exhausted than he thought, falling asleep even before he'd stopped moving.

* * *

When Bodhi woke up and proved he could walk, Kay had an answer for him. He led Bodhi into the sunbeams pouring through the window, took a deep breath, and leaned down.

Their second kiss was clumsy, both because it was Kay's second kiss ever and because Bodhi panicked a little when he realized he was an immortal being's first kiss. They knocked teeth, then foreheads, and pulled apart with Kay apologizing and Bodhi laughing. 

Their third kiss was better.

**Author's Note:**

> My search history for this story:  
> angels in Islam  
> Sufi poetry  
> capital of Tunisia  
> are Cheerios sold in the UK  
> major European cathedrals


End file.
